Articles Archives - Quanta Dialysis Technologies - Simply Smarter Dialysis™

New expanded indication will increase home hemodialysis device options available to patients with end-stage kidney disease

BEVERLY, Massachusetts – September 19, 2023 – Quanta Dialysis Technologies®, a medical technology company committed to making kidney care more accessible, today announced that it has submitted a 510(k) premarket notification to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for indication expansion of the Quanta™ Dialysis System, a compact and easy-to-use hemodialysis device. The Quanta Dialysis System is currently indicated for use in chronic and acute care settings. The new submission seeks to expand use to include self-care, in-home hemodialysis.

According to the U.S. Renal Data System, there are over 490,000 people in the U.S. who use hemodialysis to treat their end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Home hemodialysis (HHD), which replaces the thrice-weekly commute to a dialysis clinic to receive treatment, accounts for 2% of the total hemodialysis population.[i] Studies suggest that HHD has many benefits over traditional in-center dialysis such as improvements to quality of life, health outcomes and access to care. In response to the benefits of HHD, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established a program to encourage greater use of home dialysis and kidney transplants for Medicare beneficiaries.[ii]

“The FDA submission for in-home use of the Quanta Dialysis System represents a significant milestone for Quanta in our journey to make dialysis more accessible to every patient in every setting,” said Alejandro Galindo, Quanta Chief Executive Officer. “The Quanta Dialysis System is already providing patients in the U.K. with the freedom and flexibility that HHD offers. With clearance of this 510(k), patients in the U.S. will have more control over their care, and choice in where, when and how they receive treatment.”

This submission, pending regulatory clearance from the FDA, would make the Quanta Dialysis System the third device in the United States indicated for home hemodialysis in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). FDA clearance for the expanded indication is expected in 2024.

Quanta’s 510(k) submission is supported by clinical data from its Home Run™ study, a prospective, multi-center, open-label trial to assess the efficacy and safety of the Quanta Dialysis System for HHD. Full results from the study will be shared this November during a poster presentation at the upcoming American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About End-Stage Kidney Disease

End-stage kidney disease is the final stage of chronic kidney disease, where kidney function has declined enough to the point where the kidneys can no longer function on their own. With fully functioning kidneys, waste and excess fluids from the blood are filtered and then excreted in urine. For those with ESKD, the kidneys lose their filtering abilities and dangerous levels of fluid, electrolytes and waste build up in the body. Approximately 800,000 people in the United States are living with ESKD, 71% of which rely on dialysis to manage the disease, while the remaining 29% have a functioning kidney transplant.

About Quanta Dialysis Technologies

Quanta Dialysis Technologies is committed to making dialysis accessible to every patient in every setting with its Quanta Dialysis System. As a portable device with performance comparable to larger, traditional machines, the Quanta Dialysis System is a modular and powerful solution that provides the clinical versatility needed to deliver dialysis care across multiple settings. With a simple-to-use and intuitive user interface, it is designed to be operated by a broad range of users to bring dialysis directly to patients.

The Quanta Dialysis System is commercially available in the United Kingdom for home and hospital use. In the United States, it is FDA-cleared (K222067) for use in chronic and acute

care settings, with treatment types including intermittent hemodialysis (IHD), sustained low efficiency dialysis (SLED), prolonged intermittent renal replacement therapy (PIRRT), slow continuous ultrafiltration (SCUF), and continuous venovenous hemodialysis (CVVHD).

To learn more about Quanta and its products, visit quantadt.com.

[i] United States Renal Data System. 2022 USRDS Annual Data Report: Epidemiology of kidney disease in the United States. National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD, 2022.

[ii] Centers for Medicare and Medicade Services. ESRD Treatment Choices (ETC) Model. https://www.cms.gov/priorities/innovation/innovation-models/esrd-treatment-choices-model

Experienced medical device executive will lead global manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, product quality and demand planning teams

BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS – August 8, 2023 – Quanta Dialysis Technologies®, a medical technology company committed to making kidney care more accessible, today announced the appointment of Suresh Persaud as its Senior Director of Global Manufacturing and Operations, effective August 21, 2023. In this newly created role, Mr. Persaud will lead operations encompassing contract manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, product quality, and demand planning. Suresh will be a member of the Quanta Executive Leadership team and report directly to Chief Executive Officer, Alejandro Galindo.

“After a thoughtful and extensive search, we are excited to welcome Suresh Persaud to lead our global manufacturing and operations team,” said Alejandro Galindo, CEO of Quanta. “In addition to his vast experience navigating the highly regulated medical technology industry, Suresh’s proven leadership, focus on operational excellence and commitment to compliance make him a natural fit to the Quanta team. He is a purpose-driven leader who brings an impressive track record of driving results, which will support Quanta’s long-term sustainable growth.”

Mr. Persaud is a global operations executive with more than 25 years of experience leading contract manufacturing and integrated supply chain for multinational companies. Most recently, he served as senior director of integrated business planning at Medtronic, the world-leader in medical technology, services and solutions. He first joined Medtronic as a supply chain manager in 1998, where his many successes led to roles of increasing responsibility and scope.

“I am proud to join Quanta and be part of an organization committed to a purpose- and customer-driven culture,” said Mr. Persaud. “This new challenge will allow me to hone my skills driving efficiencies and improvements across operations and manufacturing systems. I look forward to capitalizing on opportunities to make a positive impact on Quanta’s patients, customers and colleagues.

Mr. Persaud holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Enterprise from Edinburgh Napier University.

Multi-center trial assesses efficacy and safety of the Quanta Dialysis System

BEVERLY, Massachusetts – August 17, 2023 – Quanta Dialysis Technologies® today announced that it has completed enrollment of its Home Run study for at-home hemodialysis. The Home Run study is a prospective, multi-center, open-label trial to assess the efficacy and safety of the Quanta Dialysis System for home hemodialysis. Results are expected to be announced in the second half of 2023.

“People with end-stage kidney disease on hemodialysis are currently limited as to options available. Although frequent home hemodialysis is proven to deliver superior outcomes, for many, in-center dialysis treatment three times a week is the only viable option,” said Quanta Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Paul Komenda, MHA, FRCPC, FASN. “We hope that FDA clearance of an additional home hemodialysis device will contribute to more patients having access to regular care in their home environment. Enrollment completion is the first step forward in a potential new alternative for people with this life-threatening disease.”

About the Home Run Study

The Home Run study is establishing non-inferiority in safety and efficacy when the Quanta Dialysis System is used in the self-care home environment with a care partner compared to a hemodialysis facility. Following enrollment, study participants begin hemodialysis treatments using the system on a prescription of four-hour treatments, three times per week for a minimum of four weeks. During this time, both patients and their caregivers will undergo extensive training and competency sign off on all aspects of safely administering hemodialysis treatment in the home. Upon completion of training and a one-week transition period, participants will perform home treatment four times per week for three-and-one-half hours per treatment for eight weeks.

About End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD)

End-stage kidney disease is the final stage of chronic kidney disease, where kidney function has declined enough to the point where the kidneys can longer function on their own. With fully functioning kidneys, waste and excess fluids from the blood are filtered and then excreted in urine. For those with ESKD, the kidneys lose their filtering abilities and dangerous levels of fluid, electrolytes and waste build up in the body. Approximately 800,000 people in the United States are living with ESKD, 71% of which rely on dialysis to manage the disease, while the remaining 29% have a functioning kidney transplant.

About the Quanta Dialysis System

The Quanta Dialysis System is a compact, easy-to-use hemodialysis device FDA-cleared for use in patients with acute and/or chronic renal failure, with or without ultrafiltration, in an acute or chronic care facility. It is also CE-mark approved for use in center or at-home in the UK by adult patients with AV fistula or graft or central venous catheter, and who have an estimated dry weight of greater than 40kg.

Quanta Dialysis System becomes first-in-class to perform three standard-of-care dialysis modalities in one device

BEVERLY, Mass., Aug. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Quanta Dialysis Technologies®, a medical technology company committed to making kidney care more accessible, today announced that it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for an expanded indication of the Quanta Dialysis System, a compact and easy-to-use hemodialysis device, for two modalities of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT): continuous venovenous hemodialysis (CVVHD) and slow continuous ultrafiltration (SCUF). Under the new 510(k), the Quanta Dialysis System is the only dialysis device FDA-cleared to provide intermittent hemodialysis (IHD), sustained low efficiency dialysis (SLED) or bagless CRRT which creates dialysate on demand – all in a single machine.

The Quanta Dialysis System was originally designed to serve the more than two million people with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) worldwide who receive treatment with dialysis or a kidney transplant. The latest addition of its Trinal Kidney Therapy™ (TKT) software provides a treatment solution for critically ill patients diagnosed with acute kidney injury (AKI) who require dialysis. It features dialysate flow rates from 50 to 500 mL/min and treatment times up to 24 hours of continuous delivery.

“This clearance is a true game-changer for acute care settings,” said Quanta Chief Executive Officer, Alejandro Galindo. “Hospitals are often constrained with limited space and nursing staff. The Quanta Dialysis System with TKT software provides an all-in-one solution for hospitals with an intensive care unit (ICU) looking to reduce their device footprint, maximize their operational efficiencies, reduce burden on nurses and substantially lower consumables expenses.”

Mortality for ICU patients with severe AKI who need dialysis has been reported to exceed 50% in patients often requiring intravenous life support to maintain a minimum blood pressure. CRRT offers a slower and gentler alternative to conventional dialysis; continuous dialysis runs 24 hours a day as compared to traditional hemodialysis which occurs over a four-hour period enabling better real time management of volume and biochemistry for patients.

“Critically ill patients that are hemodynamically unstable, such as those with severe AKI, are more challenging to manage in the ICU balancing volume status, inotropic support and ventilation requirements. Because of its slower rate of fluid removal, CRRT may cause less stress for the patient and enable more real-time decision making for clinical teams on a minute-to-minute basis,” said Quanta Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Paul Komenda, MHA, FRCPC, FASN. “However, once the hemodynamic status of the patient has improved, a transition to IHD or SLED may be the best option. A device than can perform all three modalities in one is ideal.”

Quanta is ready to commercialize the Quanta Dialysis System with TKT software and expects to officially launch the product at the 2023 American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting.

Unanimous Endorsement of MannKind Executive Follows Extensive Search

BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS – September 28, 2022 – Quanta Dialysis Technologies® Ltd (“Quanta” or the “Company”), a medical technology company committed to making kidney care more accessible with its Quanta™ Dialysis System, today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously elected Alejandro Galindo, M.B.A., M.S. as the organization’s next chief executive officer (CEO). Mr. Galindo succeeds Interim CEO, Hooman Hakami, who will return to his role on the Board effective November 1, 2022.

“On behalf of the Board, I am pleased to welcome Alejandro as Quanta’s next CEO,” said Chairman of Quanta’s Board, Johan de Ruiter. “After undergoing an extensive search process, we are confident we have the right individual for the role. Alejandro is an inspiring leader. His proven experience driving strategic transformation in the healthcare industry well positions him to accelerate Quanta’s growth and generate value for all of our stakeholders. We also thank Hooman for stepping in as interim CEO during the search, bringing invaluable leadership and ensuring a seamless transition.”

Mr. Galindo joins Quanta with over 25 years of experience in the healthcare, energy and consumer industries. A career veteran known for his considerable expertise across a variety of leadership roles, Mr. Galindo has an accomplished track record in product development, mergers and acquisitions, global expansion, and distribution strategies. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of the Endocrine Business Unit of MannKind Corporation, a company focused on the development and commercialization of inhaled therapeutic products for patients with diabetes and orphan lung diseases.

“I appreciate the confidence that the Board has placed in me and am honored to be appointed CEO. We are a purpose-driven organization, dedicated to making dialysis care accessible to every patient in every setting,” said Mr. Galindo. “It is a privilege for me to join Quanta as it addresses healthcare inequities through the development of transformative innovations which put the patient first. There is tremendous potential in Quanta and I look forward to working with Hooman, the Board, and the executive leadership team – and learning from our employees, patients, and commercial partners – as we continue to achieve our vision and lead the company into its next chapter.”

Prior to MannKind, Mr. Galindo spent six years at Medtronic as vice president and president of the Advanced Insulin Management Business Unit, where he achieved double-digit growth within their diabetes division. Mr. Galindo also spent 20 years at General Electric leading teams across the globe from the company’s diverse group of industries. He holds a Master of Science and Master of Business Administration from Indiana University Bloomington and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Tecnologico de Monterrey.

13 JULY 2022: The team behind a revolutionary portable dialysis machine that enables patients to treat themselves at home and relieves pressure on over-stretched hospitals, has won the UK’s leading engineering innovation award for 2022.

The Royal Academy of Engineering has today announced Quanta Dialysis Technologies as the recipient of the 2022 MacRobert Award, the UK’s longest running and most prestigious award for UK engineering innovation. Joining previous MacRobert Award winners including Rolls-Royce, Arup and Raspberry Pi, Quanta has been recognized for developing the SC+, a compact and portable dialysis machine that revolutionises care for patients with renal failure.

The MacRobert Award celebrates engineering developments that demonstrate outstanding engineering innovation, commercial success and tangible social benefits, and the SC+ impressed judges across all three criteria. The SC+ offers patients a dramatic improvement on quality of life since it is easier to operate, faster to train on and more mobile than traditional dialysis machines. This flexibility also enables patients to treat themselves at home overnight, receiving more dialysis care than they would in clinical settings, eliminating the weekend gap without dialysis.

The elimination of expensive and time-consuming sterilisation between treatments thanks to the disposable cartridge developed by Quanta, means treatment for patients is more straightforward and hospitals are able to save money on maintenance, repairs and transporting patients to clinics. Quanta is already working with NHS Trusts and, during lockdown, provided its entire UK SC+ stock to the NHS in order to relieve pressure on hospitals and ICUs.

Judges of the award were also impressed by the enormous commercial potential of the SC+. The unit was approved by the FDA in 2021 and is already selling in the US, where the dialysis market is expected to exceed $12bn. In 2021, Quanta raised $245million to fund the rollout of SC+ in the US — the largest-ever private funding round for a dialysis device company.

The SC+ marks a major advance in dialysis technology, which has seen little innovation in decades. Each single-use cartridge incorporates a series of pneumatic membrane pumps, rather than the piston-driven pumps found in traditional dialysis machines. This provides more accurate, consistent flow rates and enhanced distribution within the dialyser itself, which acts as an artificial kidney, while minimising cross contamination and bio-burden (the number of microorganisms living on a non-sterilised surface) between treatments.

Professor Sir Richard Friend FREng FRS, Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award judging panel, said: “This UK-based global healthtech success story, which traces back to technology first developed for use in fruit juice dispensers, demonstrates remarkable engineering ingenuity. Recent success comes on the back of Quanta’s considerable journey as a company. The team has been working for a decade to develop a machine that dramatically improves patient care and quality of life, relieves pressure on hospitals and showcases the enormous commercial potential that cutting edge engineering can unlock. The team exemplifies the persistence, innovation and unconventional thinking that has long been a hallmark of the UK’s greatest engineering success stories and they are worthy winners of the MacRobert Award.”

The Quanta team were announced as the winners of the MacRobert Award at the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Awards Dinner on Tuesday 12 July at Leicester Square’s stunning new sustainably designed and engineered hotel, The Londoner. The team received a £50,000 prize and join an impressive line-up of previous MacRobert Award winners. The first award in 1969 was won jointly by Rolls-Royce for the Pegasus engine used in the iconic Harrier jump jet, and Freeman, Fox and Partners, for designing the Severn Bridge. More recently, 2008 winner Touch Bionics i-Limb Hand has helped to transform medical prosthetics, while people across all seven continents still rely on winning innovations from the likes of Jaguar Land Rover, Raspberry Pi and Inmarsat.

Notes to editors

First presented in 1969, the MacRobert Award is widely regarded as the most coveted in the industry, honouring the winning organisation with a gold medal and the team members with a cash prize of £50,000. Founded by the MacRobert Trust, the award is presented and run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, with support from the Worshipful Company of Engineers.

The 2022 judging panel is made up of:

Professor Sir Richard Friend FREng FRS (Chair of Judges), former Cavendish Professor of Physics, University of Cambridge; Founder, Cambridge Display Technology
Naomi Climer CBE FREng, Chair of Council, International Broadcasting Convention (IBC); Former President Media Cloud Services, Sony
Dr Andy Harter CBE DL FREng, Chair, Cambridge Network; Founder RealVNC
Professor John Fisher CBE FREng FMedSci, former Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds
Professor Dame Julia King, The Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng FRS, Chair, The Carbon Trust
Professor Gordon Masterton DL OBE FREng FRSE, Trustee; The MacRobert Trust; Chair of Future Infrastructure, University of Edinburgh; Former Vice-President, Jacobs
Dr Ruth McKernan CBE FMedSci, Venture Partner, SV Health Investors & Dementia Discovery Fund
Professor Phil Nelson CBE FREng, Professor of Acoustics, University of Southampton
Dr Liane Smith CBE FREng, Director, Larkton Ltd; former SVP Digital Solutions, Wood Group

The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with its Fellows and partners, it’s growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

The winning Quanta Dialysis Technologies team includes:

John Milad, CEO
Professor Clive Buckberry FREng, Chief Engineer and Technology Officer
Keith Heyes, Systems Engineering Director & Original Inventor
Mark Wallace, Lead Innovations Engineer
David Spurling, Lead Architect (Mechanical Engineering)
Maddy Warren, Strategic Dialysis Advisor and Community Engagement Consultant

Annual Awards Dinner 2022. This year’s Royal Academy of Engineering Awards Dinner was held in London on Tuesday 12 July. Along with the announcement of the winner of this year’s MacRobert Award, the eventalso celebrated the winners of other awards and prizes including the Major Project Award, The Princess Royal Silver Medals, the President’s Medal, the Rooke Award and the RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineer of the Year. The headline sponsor of this year’s Awards Dinner was BAE Systems, with gold sponsors bp and Rolls-Royce.

Find out more about the MacRobert Award on the website or via the Royal Academy of Engineering’s social media channels:

Twitter – @RAEngNews
LinkedIn
Facebook

The MacRobert Award press team can be contacted directly via email:

MacRobertAward@antidotecommunications.com

Hooman Hakami, former Medtronic executive, named Interim CEO

BEVERLY, Massachusetts – June 30, 2022 – Quanta Dialysis Technologies Inc (“Quanta or “The Company”), a medical technology company committed to making kidney care more accessible with its SC+ hemodialysis system, announced today that CEO John E. Milad will leave the company effective July 15, 2022. The company has begun the search for a new CEO. Upon Milad’s departure and until the appointment of a new CEO, Hooman Hakami, a member of the Quanta Board of Directors, will serve as interim CEO.

“I could not be prouder of where Quanta is today, especially as the company continues to develop its transatlantic presence to scale commercially,” said John Milad, outgoing Quanta CEO. “Looking forward, Quanta will benefit from leadership that has a proven track-record in commercial expansion. I am more confident than ever of the product we have developed and the passionate and ambitious team we’ve built.”

Chairman of Quanta’s Board, Johan de Ruiter, applauded John for the leadership he has brought to the company. “On behalf of the Board, I want to thank John for his visionary leadership and unrelenting dedication to Quanta since its founding. His contributions since appointment as CEO eight years ago have positioned Quanta well for commercial success,” said de Ruiter, who added “The Board is firmly committed to the vision that has driven Quanta – the need for a better, more patient-centric kidney care option – and we are more excited than ever about the position of the Company to achieve that vision.”

Hooman is a business leader with more than 30 years of experience primarily in Healthcare and MedTech, previously serving as a member of Medtronic’s executive committee and Group President for Diabetes, a $2.5 billion division, and serving as President of Detection and Guidance Solutions at GE Healthcare, a $2.0 billion division.

“We are committed to conducting a thorough CEO search with a focus on identifying a new leader that will unlock the tremendous potential that we all believe exists in SC+ and in Quanta” said Hakami. “As we conduct the search, I will take a more engaged role to support the management team in order to ensure a seamless transition for our patients, employees, commercial partners, and shareholders,”

About Quanta and SC+

Quanta Dialysis Technologies is reinventing kidney care to be more accessible to every patient in every setting with its SC+ haemodialysis system. With performance comparable to larger, traditional machines, SC+ is a modular and powerful solution that provides the clinical versatility needed to deliver dialysis care across multiple settings. As a portable system with an intuitive simple user interface, SC+ is designed to be operated by a broad range of users to bring dialysis directly to patients.

SC+ is commercially available in the United Kingdom for home and hospital use and in the United States is FDA-cleared (K210661) for use in chronic and acute care settings.

For more information, please visit: www.quantadt.com

ALCESTER, England and BEVERLY, Massachusetts, January 10, 2022: QUANTA Dialysis Technologies Ltd (“QUANTA” or the “Company”), a medical technology company committed to making dialysis more accessible with its SC+ hemodialysis system, today announced that Meghan FitzGerald and Leslie Norwalk, have been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately. These highly accomplished healthcare experts will advise QUANTA as it works to improve patient access to dialysis care, care pathways and cost efficiencies.

We are honored to welcome Meghan and Leslie, two highly respected industry veterans, to QUANTA’s Board,” said Johan de Ruiter, chairman of QUANTA Dialysis Technologies. “The pandemic has emphasized how critical it is for patients and clinicians to have access to flexible, effective dialysis care. The expertise and proven track record Meghan and Leslie bring to QUANTA will be greatly beneficial to our Board as we continue working to bring SC+ directly to every patient in every setting.

John E Milad

CEO

Quanta

Meghan FitzGerald is a global healthcare strategist, investor, academic and author. A highly-regarded expert, she has worked in every domain of healthcare—from front line patient care through the Fortune 500—while serving as an adjunct professor at Columbia University. Currently, Ms. FitzGerald is a private equity investor where she serves as an advisor to several firms, including Goldman Sachs and Wellspring Capital. Prior, Ms. FitzGerald was the chief executive officer and managing partner at Letter One’s inaugural health vehicle, where she allocated approximately $4 billion in three years within pharmaceutical services and animal health. Ms. FitzGerald has spent nearly twenty years as an operator and strategist, working for many prominent healthcare firms, including Merck, Pfizer and Medco. She was also the executive vice president of strategy, mergers and acquisitions and health policy at Cardinal Health and a member of the executive committee. In addition to her board appointment at QUANTA, Ms. FitzGerald is a member of the board of directors at Tenet Healthcare.

Leslie Norwalk is strategic counsel to Epstein Becker Green, P.C., EBG Advisors and National Health Advisors. She serves as an advisor to several private equity firms and, in addition to QUANTA, sits on the Boards of Directors of Neurocrine Biosciences, Arvinas, NuVasive, ModivCare, Magellan Health, and several privately held health care companies. In her prior role with the Bush Administration, Ms. Norwalk was acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she managed the day-to-day operations of CMS, State Child Health Insurance Programs, Survey and Certification of health care facilities and other federal health care initiatives. In addition, Ms. Norwalk was the agency’s deputy administrator, responsible for the implementation of the hundreds of changes made under the Medicare Modernization Act, including the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit.

Click here to access the recording from the Piper Sandler 33rd Annual Healthcare Conference.

In recognition of Nephrology Nurses Week 2021, QUANTA joins the American Nephrology Nurses Association in celebrating and highlighting the impressive skills and knowledge of the nurses who care for kidney patients and improve their lives every single day.

Nephrology nursing is one of the most challenging nursing specialties. Nephrology nurses provide life-saving care for people of all ages who suffer from, or are at risk of kidney disease, including patients on dialysis and those who have received kidney transplants. Nephrology nurses can work in hospitals or outpatient clinics and often visit patients at home to offer support, monitor their health, and provide education.

Dialysis nurses spend a significant amount of time with their patients who come in several times per week for three to five hour treatments. These nurses frequently establish close, familial-like relationships with their patients. Nurses support their patients not only through the delivery of dialysis, but also help them through life challenges involving work, family, and education that kidney failure can create. They help patients come to terms with side effects that can affect mental health, mobility, and body image. Caring for seriously ill dialysis patients is both a privilege and a calling for nephrology nurses who know that only 35% of hemodialysis patients in the United States survive five years on dialysis without a transplant.

Nurses help patients to celebrate many life events and milestones in dialysis centers. These nurses know that cakes, balloons, gifts, and other thoughtful touches can have a big impact on helping patients to live their best lives despite the constraints of their dialysis routines. One young dialysis patient, Amy, remembers how the nurses on her unit went the extra mile to make her as comfortable as possible – even giving her foot massages when she suffered cramps. “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of nurses to help me get used to the scary world of dialysis,” she says.

Sarah, who has kidney disease, says that “when my health hits a bad patch and everyone is panicking, my kidney nurses always stay so calm and help me to feel calm too. They also understand that I still need to live my life and that there is more to me than blood work and test results.”

As a company dedicated to helping people on dialysis to live more freely, QUANTA honors and applauds dialysis nurses all over the world for their vital role in motivating people to take control of their health and helping their patients learn how to transition to self-care or home dialysis. In addition to their clinical skills, dialysis nurses use education, encouragement, and praise to build their patients’ confidence.

Ruth, a dialysis nurse who works on the QUANTA team, has over 30 years of experience providing dialysis care for people at all stages of life, including a newborn child who only weighed 2 lbs. “I feel strongly that the patients have impacted my life more than I have theirs,” says Ruth. “My hope and goal is to have made their lives on dialysis a little more tolerable and comfortable while providing safe care, maintaining their dignity, and improving their quality of life. Nursing has made me keenly aware and grateful for the gift of health and wellbeing.”

We thank all the nephrology nurses like Ruth who work so hard to help patients every way they can, and we hope that more nurses will feel inspired to consider a career in caring for kidney patients. For more information about the work of nephrology nurses and Nephrology Nurses Week, please visit http://www.annanurse.org.